It seems that the Toon Army have had enough of Mike Ashley’s reign at Newcastle United, and after trying several different strategies to show their protest, the fans are now planning a boycott. The boycott will take place on Sunday 19th of April, when Newcastle face Tottenham Hotspur. St. James’ Park is usually packed to its capacity with over 52,000 attendees every home match, so a figure well below that will be needed for the boycott to be called a success.
The idea originated from Twitter and was later endorsed by fellow groups of Ashley’s critics. The thought was to make the protest as possible with the game being aired live on TV as well. Even though it is well known that there is discontent with Mr. Ashley, the full scale of the discontent is still relatively unknown. The protest on Sunday may give a good clue.
For anyone still asking what all the fuss is about, United supporters are quite unhappy with the direction the club is taking at the moment. This is due to a number of reasons, but perhaps most obvious is the lack of progress and ambition at the club. This is certainly not the first time United supporters have protested against the club. The last visible protest was held in form of a walkout during a match earlier this season. That protest, seemingly succesfull, did however not result in any form of action taken by the club. That is different from last seasons protest march, where hundreds of supporters gathered to demonstrate by marching in Newcastle. The club answered this protest by banning a local newspaper for presumably exaggerating the protest.
There is a big question mark around the result of this planned protest. After all, there were only a few hundred in the protest march. Geordies are also known as very loyal supporters, and previously St. James’ Park has been filled on virtually every home match in the league. If only a few hundred follow Sundays protest, there will only be one person seen as a winner, and that person is Mike Ashley. The protesters need thousands of fans to join in the boycott, and if this does happen, then the protesters will not only be showing strength, but also forcing the club to make some kind of admission. For those not joining in the boycott, but still want to support the protest there will also be held a rally before and after the match.
So what will this protest hope to achieve? Well first of all, the highest goal is to make Mike Ashley put the club up for sale once more, and this time succeeding. Until that happens, the protests will probably continue. The time is passed when Ashley could please the fans by changing his approach to running the club. No matter what happens, the protest will certainly make this match a lot more interesting everyone planning to watch the match on television. The growing frustration with the way the club is managed is nearing its peak.
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